Exploring the worlds of food and drink in Essex and beyond.

Review: The Diner, Spitalfields Market

Brunch is singlehandedly one of my favourite things about life. Typically I find it hard to deviate from my all-time favourite: eggs benedict. But, my experience at The Diner in Spitalfields Market on Sunday taught me that sometimes change is good, really bloody good in fact. I went for something I’d normally be skeptical of (even though I LOVE all of the components) and I was not disappointed.

The Lumber Jill breakfast consisted of waffles with roasted bananas and bacon. Sounds weird? Well yeah, I thought that too… but then I thought well I love banana pancakes and they go well with bacon and waffles are a complete guilty pleasure of mine, and what’s the worst that can happen (I feel this may be a regular motif in my thinking for 2014). The worst didn’t happen. Every mouthful was utterly divine. The waffles had sticky butterscotch sauce from the roasted bananas all over them; complete unadulterated pleasure. The bacon was American style smoked streaky, really salty and the perfect counter-balance to the fluffy, sweet waffles. There was a pot of maple syrup served on the side, which was completely unnecessary (and didn’t taste like maple to me!) – I nearly went into a sugar coma when I tried a mouthful dipped in the syrup!

My partner in crime went for the buttermilk pancakes (short stack) with maple and a side of bacon. His looked delicious too, pancakes were big and fluffy – apparently as good as he used to get in Canada, so that’s saying something. We both had a hot drink, plus free tap water (it was iced, rejoice!) and the bill only came to £11 each, including a tip. I couldn’t quite believe my eyes that we had just had probably one of our best brunch dates ever for such a small price. Before going, I’d been slightly dubious as I’d seen some mediocre reviews, mainly focussed on poor service – while the service wasn’t amazingly quick, our waitress was really friendly and the food more than made up for it. We’ll definitely be going back…and next time we’ll be sampling the cocktails! Make sure you check it out if you’re in the area.